Mergers are organizational change
One of the most fundamental reasons for starting change initiatives in an organization is a merger.
Amazing but true: 50% of mergers fail – just ask Daimler about their adventures with Chrysler if you want to get confirmation.
In a merger, one set of staff has to change the way they work to match that of the other organization. It’s not enough to simply send out a few Powerpoint slides – people want an answer to the questions ‘What does this mean for me?’
And this needs to take place not only in the ‘losing’ firm, because the kind of change that a merger involves also affects staff in the ‘winning’ firm.
So this means that the management of the relevant change processes has
to take account of the fact that when a merger takes place, there are
always (perceived and actual) winners and losers. It means that the
change has to be managed and the level of the individual and the group,
as well as at the the level of the whole organization.
